Cloverfield Stomps the Box Office

Bazookas couldn’t stop it. Military helicopter rockets couldn’t slow it down. And neither can the box office, because J.J. Abrams’ much-hyped “Cloverfield” showed that viral marketing still works by chomping down on an impressive $41 million take in its opening weekend debut, the biggest January opening ever, topping the $35.9 by the “Star Wars” re-release in 1997.

But if you weren’t buying popcorn for “Cloverfield”, you were probably doing it for Katherine Heigl’s romantic comedy “27 Dresses”, which did surprisingly well by opening at #2 with $22.4 million, thus cementing the Grey’s Anatomy actress as a bona fide movie star.

“Mad Money”, on the other hand, opened at #7 with $7.7 million. I guess comedy crime capers aren’t anyone’s cup of tea.